August 2014 Issue No 240 www.openhousescotland.co.uk £2.50 Hutting in Scotland: The place of religion in Crisis of the spiritual a space of our own? contemporary Scotland in modern culture Editorial Squeezing the middle Why did the referendum not have an in-between option had its ups and downs but was steadily increasing in (devo-max as it came to be known) besides the stark numbers until the restoration of the Scottish Parliament options of yes or no to the question about Scottish in 1997 made it electable. independence? Legally the decision to allow a The other minority is broadly socialist or even Jacobin. referendum and the form it would take depended on Since the late 19th century Scotland has had more Westminster. David Cameron called it a Get Out Of Jail people voting further left than England. Gradually this card for Alex Salmond. The First Minister couldn’t has become the majority of Scottish voters. However it afford to argue. There was no guarantee he would be has only occasionally been part of a majority in re-elected in 2016. Westminster. What appears to be happening now is that Polls had indicated that the majority was happy with some are thinking that a majority in Holyrood might be devolution. This is what you expect - most people go enough. along with the status quo. This is how the referendum Churches tend to favour the status quo. None of them debate is being played out. Most are happy the way has given an opinion. But their members are divided. things are. A wit had pointed out that there was never a need for a No campaign. All the Unionist side had to Some historically minded Christians are influenced by say was nothing. It is possible that by opening their the Papal Treaty of Arbroath and the St. Andrews flag. mouths e.g. by offering more devolution, they have only They will vote for the restoration of full independence. disturbed the equilibrium. There is also a Christian Left as indicated by the The Yes campaign is the sum of two minorities. One is presence of Justice and Peace activists in all the broadly nationalist or Jacobite. It is worth remembering churches. They see independence as a step to social how far back this strand goes. The Saltire at change. On September 18 we will find out just now Bannockburn was first raised in 1807 - by Dumbarton’s much these two wings have been able to squeeze the Loyal Dixon Lodge. The Scottish National(ist) Party middle. Still roaming the earth Many children go through a period of fascination with served us well. dinosaurs. The name, coined by English palaeontologist And according to Mark Hederman, Abbot of Glenstal Richard Owen in 1842 means ‘terrible, or powerful Abbey in Limerick, we have bred our own species of lizard’. Small boys, for a time, can reel off the dinosaur: the lumbering churches, banks and complicated names and characteristics of the monsters multinational companies which roam the earth today. who haunt their imaginations with great intensity. Then Unless a pioneering brainwave turns into a monster they move on to other things. sized dinosaur, he suggests, it has little hope of surviving Dinosaurs died out 66 million years ago, enabling the vicissitudes of history. Every large institution that mammals, including our own species, to diversify and means to survive on this earth has to become a evolve. A new study raises the possibility that the dinosaur. We may not like them, but we must learn to dinosaurs might have survived if an asteroid had not hit live with them. the earth at a time when the creatures were at their In his little book, Dancing with Dinosaurs, Abbot most vulnerable. Dr Steve Brusatte of Edinburgh Hederman offers a spirituality for the 21st century University told the BBC that the timing was ‘colossal which illuminates the steps on our road to resurrection bad luck’ for the dinosaurs. with the help of science and history. He sees the But as small boys know, dinosaurs never completely signature of the Trinity in the triune structure of our died out. The human brain is the product of 500 million brain. He reminds us that we are created with the years of evolution in vertebrates, and contains traces of built-in possibility of divine relationship, leading our primitive reptilian brain. In the first month of life, towards eventual divinisation. And that we need to for example, babies grasp any object that touches the include every aspect of ourselves in this transformation. palm of their hand – a reflex designed to help them The dinosaurs have their place in our story. hang on to something so that they don’t fall. Nature Dancing with Dinosaurs, by Mark Patrick Herderman, doesn’t readily give up a form of behaviour that has is published by The Columba Press, 2011 2 OPEN HOUSE August 2014 Contents Hutting in Scotland LYNN JOLLY 3 A space of our own? Lynn Jolly A space of our own? 5 The place of religion in contemporary Scotland The movement to build a thousand huts in Scotland Anthony Allison received a boost in June when Scotland’s Planning Policy 7 Crisis of the spiritual Joe Fitzpatrick recommended that development plans make provision 9 Political bardology for huts for intermittent recreational occupation. Open Gerard Carruthers House arts editor reflects on comparisons being made 10 Celtic fringe with Scandinavia. Marian Pallister 12 In the footsteps of the saints Alison Clark One current trend sweeping the nation can comfortably afford such getaways is 14 Poverty and prospects for implores us to find a space of our own. an indication of the elevated GDP of their young people in Glasgow Built of timber and plotted in a woodland national economies. Certainly, there are Stephen J McKinney, Stuart clearing, it will be our escape from the Scots who enjoy the benefits of something city clamour and the pressures of the very similar but for the most part they will Hall, Kevin Lowden, Michele daily timetable. Our meditation cell or also be enjoying salaries upwards of £40k. McClung and Lauren Cameron. creative muse, it will provide our The other and perhaps more telling 16 The age of the laity weekends and summer days with a distinction is the impact of culture and Thomas A Fitzpatrick destination that is both physically tradition. It’s worth asking which reachable and spiritually aspirational. Scandinavians are most likely to take 17 Notebook The model upheld is that of the advantage of the rustic retreat option. Summer gatherings Scandinavian cabin to which people take Undoubtedly there will be exceptions but off from city and suburb at the end of for the most part they are unlikely to 19 Letters every week and every spring. There to include the more recently arrived Turkish Living Spirit enjoy the scent of pine and wood smoke, economic immigrants or Kosovan asylum 20 Reviews a view of the fjord, and the absence of seekers. The Norwegian ‘hytte’ is a long Books, film, music traffic, television and, implicitly, tension. established familial and social custom as This idyll is presented to us (mostly by much as it is a physical and geographical 24 Moments in time those who imagine an independent place. A bit like the English suburban Scotland as a messier version of Norway) garden, the North American porch or the as the element of life in these countries Australian gathering on the beach, it which provides an essential balance, represents a whole set of cultural Thank you to all those who contributing hugely to national happiness, assumptions and identities which are as contributed to this edition of health and general all-round cool. defining as they are appealing. In societies Open House. There are two factors consistently left in which a plurality of cultures is evident Open House, which was founded in out of this comparison: firstly, the the risk that the default preferences and Dundee in 1990, is an independent widespread economic prosperity of that practices of one become synonymous journal of comment and debate on part of Europe and, secondly, the with what is ‘good’, ‘healthy’ and, most significantly greater degree of ethnic and insidious of all, ‘normal’, is inherent to faith issues in Scotland. It is rooted in cultural homogeneity. The Swedish shop this kind of idealisation. If the only the reforms of the Second Vatican assistant or Norwegian office worker will people ‘hutting’ in Scandinavia are Council (1962-65) and committed to very probably own their woodland or ethnically Nordic there’s nothing wrong the dialogue which began at the waterside retreat but it is more likely to with that, but we should understand it Council - within the Catholic Church, match the UK estate agent’s description for what it is: a cultural tradition. in other churches, and with all those of ‘holiday lodge’: its resemblance to a This is not to disparage the movement committed to issues of justice and hut beginning and ending with the fact in this country which unquestionably peace. that it’s made of wood. Of course some offers the potential for a simpler and www.openhousescotland.co.uk are fairly basic (not all are equipped with more sustainable way of living, a fairer saunas and Jacuzzis) but even these are and more just distribution of land rights Cover photograph of Carbeth hut by likely to include hot showers, flushing and usage, and an improved physical and Morven Gregor. toilets and efficient solar powered psychological relationship with the generators. That those on the planet. The current Scottish context, Scandinavian version of a lower income however, demands more than a simplistic August 2014 OPEN HOUSE 3 transference of custom and practice from across the North Sea.